T2K Cuisine - Food in the aftermath

[pmulcahy11b]

or just eat the dog or cat.

I could never eat one of my dogs -- I'd rather eat a person.

[Legbreaker]

mmmmm, Solent Green....

[WallShadow]

or just eat the dog or cat.

Ummm...remember in the 14th century, when the European populace killed all the cats they could because the cats were thought to be witches' familiars and responsible for the plague The cats that might have kept the rodent factor of the flea-borne disease vector population down

And often, cats bring "gifts" to their humans--birds, mice, rats, snakes, moles, voles.

I'd be trying to keep my cats and dogs in good health as a public health and safety measure! And besides, they're loyal to me--I keep them fed in tough times.

On a totally different topic: sprouting beans. Sprouting dried beans is very easy--Soak the beans for about 4 hours or so, the pour off the liquid, keep them damp in a moderately warm/stable temperature in a shaded location. Full sunlight will encourage the sprouts to go leafy, which may be fine if you want to plant them, but not as an immediate food source. Rinse and drain the beans several times a day; after about 2 days, you will see the sprout emerging from the hull. The sprouts are at their peak at about day 7--eat them raw or cook them. They have lots of certain B-vitamins (B1, B2, and B3) and vitamins A and C--important for scurvy and vision impairment prevention. Note: according to my best source, soybean- and Kidney bean sprouts are toxic. Some sprouted beans may contain natural defensive enzymes that may inhibit fat and protein absorption: these need to be cooked before eating them. http://www.growyouthful.com/recipes/sprouts.php One of the episodes of Jericho had the techno-geek girl mentioning how the bean sprouts were coming along well--important when they were going to be the main source of Vitamin C as winter continued.

Lastly, a word about lentils, the lovely little lens-shaped legume that is a great ingredient. Lentils do not have to be soaked overnight: they take about 45 minutes of cooking to be edible. They are a great protein source and have a broad range of uses, whether ground up or in their natural form. Lots of Middle Eastern and South Asian dishes include them. And you can sprout them (see above).

[bobcat]

goat, dates, chai...
...wait thats a long patrol in iraq...

but seriously
in my area it would mostly be cattails, elderberries, spearmint tea, dandilions, and any meat we can acquire. (also corn since so many people plant patches for the deer)

[WallShadow]

I've just had a horrible thought. What are we Brits going to drink instead of tea in the aftermath

Anyone have any ideas

Do just what your forefathers did--go out and conquer an empire to grow and process it, spreading cricket to the poor benighted 'eathens as a side-effect

[Graebarde]

A world without Pepsi! While Coke may be happy with that...the inhumanity!!!

Ahh, if there's no Pepsi, I highly doubt there will be Coke.. or <sigh> Dr Pepper.

[Graebarde]

Anyone with the forethought to plant out a few greenhouses with tea would make a mint!

Yep, however it's not as simple as it sounds. Tea is raised as far north as South Carolina however with some success. There is a large plantation of tea over there, much closer than Ceylon. Of course in 2000 I don't know what condition it would be in.

[Graebarde]

I've just had a horrible thought. What are we Brits going to drink instead of tea in the aftermath

Anyone have any ideas

Barley pop!!! Malt the barley, extract the malt, add hops if you can or prefer, ferment the extraction, age for a bit.. )

[Graebarde]

I've just had a horrible thought. What are we Brits going to drink instead of tea in the aftermath

Anyone have any ideas

Barley pop!!! Malt the barley, extract the malt, add hops if you can or prefer, ferment the extraction, age for a bit.. )

[Graebarde]

I've just had a horrible thought. What are we Brits going to drink instead of tea in the aftermath

Anyone have any ideas

Barley pop!!! The same stuff they drank before the addiction to tea

[dragoon500ly]

Tea and Coffee, the REAL essentials of Life!

Here's a listing of the edible plants that can be used to make tea

Bearbearry AKA Kinnikinnick; found in the artic and subartic regions, the young leaves can be brewed to make a refreshing tea

Blackberries, raspberries and dewbarries; found in temperate regions, the leaves are used to make tea, if suffering from diarrhea, brew a tea from the dried root bark of the blackberry bush.

Broad leaf lawn plantain: found in the north temperate regions, a tea to treat diarrhea can be made from 1 ounce of this plant boiled in one pint of water.

Chickory; native of Europe and Asia, found in Africa and North America; doesn't brew a tea, but can be used as a coffee substitute.

Dandelion; grows throughout the Northern Hemisphere; the roots can be roasted and ground as a coffee substitute.

Juniper; roast the seeds and ground and use as a coffee substitute, the young twigs can be vrewed to make a tea.

Nutsedge; grows in sandy areas throughout the world, the tubers can be roasted and ground and used for a coffee substitute.

Oaks; throughout Europe, North and Central America and parts of Europe and Asia; the acorns can be baked until dark, then ground and used as a coffee substitute.

Persimmon; throughout Africa, North America and the Far East; dry the leaves and soak them in hot water to make a tea.

Sassafras; a common tree in Eastern North America; dig the undergroun portion of the tree, peel off the bark and let it dry, thne boil it in water to make a tea.

[Graebarde]

sorry for the multiple multiple posts. dang lagging machine.

[dragoon500ly]

Since we're talking about tea, remember this little tidbit

Mindful of the possibility of desperate shortages in materials critical to the war effort, in 1940 the British government moved to corner the market on what it considered its most precious strategic resouce, establishing a worldwide monopoly on tea. At the height of the war, Great Britain maintained stockpiles of about 150 million tons of the stuff, eneough to brew up about 6 trillion cups. So critical was tea to the British war effort that only ammunition had a higher priority than tea for delivery to troops in action.

Source is "Dirty Little Secrets of World War II" byJames Dunnigna and Albert Nofi

[simonmark6]

Too right, you can kill the enemy without ammunition, but without a cuppa the average Tommy isn't going anywhere!

[Raellus]

Where's the Beef

A brief and interesting article by a sci-fi/food writer (from NPR).

http://www.npr.org/2013/07/13/201181637/food-in-science-fiction-in-the-future-we-will-all-eat-lasersutm_source&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130715

Food seems to be neglected in RPGs too. When I GM, I don't really make an issue of it. It's very rarely that my players post something about eating. In the other games I play in, food is rarely, if ever, an issue. It just seems to be taken for granted that food is available and that the PCs eat it. In a post-apoc world, this doesn't seem right. In computer/console RPGs, food is usually used only as a mode of minor healing.

I think that food should play a bigger part in RPGs, especially T2K. First off, it's necessary for basic survival. Getting it should be one of the players' primary concerns. When it's generally scarce, food also becomes currency. Why can't one barter with food in a post-apoc video game like Fallout 3 (one of my all-time fav's). And lastly, food is a social lubricant. Meal times are opportunities to get together and chat. In a social game, like an RPG, this doesn't seem to happen enough. I find this quite ironic because the one FtF I participate in is also always pot-luck and we tend to gnosh throughout.